Lotus has ended the production of the Esprit V8 four years ago. And the reports are showing that the English automaker plans a successor for the Esprit. It was rumored before that Lotus was planning to release the new Esprit this year, but now it appears that it’s being pushed to 2010.
Spy photographers have already caught various test mules, and from what we can see, the forthcoming car is indeed growing up well. Nothing much is visible in terms of design. We only know the car is targeted to compete with supercars such as the Ferrari F430 and the Lamborghini Gallardo.
Latest report from Autocar suggests that the new Esprit will be powered by BMW’s V8 engine. This sounds realistic enough, for we know BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer recently said that the German automaker has intention to sell its engine technologies to other companies. The most likely candidate for the power-train here would be the 4.4 liter V8 in the BMW X6, possibly tuned up to produce over 500bhp. The car will built between 1000 and 2000 units in the company’s home base Hethel in Britain.
Spy photographers have already caught various test mules, and from what we can see, the forthcoming car is indeed growing up well. Nothing much is visible in terms of design. We only know the car is targeted to compete with supercars such as the Ferrari F430 and the Lamborghini Gallardo.
Latest report from Autocar suggests that the new Esprit will be powered by BMW’s V8 engine. This sounds realistic enough, for we know BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer recently said that the German automaker has intention to sell its engine technologies to other companies. The most likely candidate for the power-train here would be the 4.4 liter V8 in the BMW X6, possibly tuned up to produce over 500bhp. The car will built between 1000 and 2000 units in the company’s home base Hethel in Britain.
